a place for ideas, electronics, prototyping, DIY technology, knowledge and arts. However, I don't want to promise anything, maybe this blog will have its own life and it will grow and develop the way it sees fit.

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Monday, April 16, 2012

Lebanese OCTO Copter built by Mounir Zoorob

A few days ago, I bumped into Mounir Zoorob's OCTO copter project. It is a very impressive flying monster that Mounir designed entirely by himself. It is 1m in diameter and it has a 3 axis camera Gimbal, all designed from scratch. Apparently he has spent over 4 months very hard at work to finish it on time. I must say he did a pretty amazing job. So I invited Mounir on DepotBassam to write a small review of his OCTO copter flying machine, and here is his post:

Before starting, I would like to mention that the materials used are not the best choice. However, since there was nothing available in this part of the world and shipping carbon fiber parts was not possible I had to go with aluminum and Plexi glass instead. (on that subject, review DepotBassam's post on Lebanese electronics shops for more info)
I used 2cm * 2cm * 1 mm aluminum square tubes and the motors are from DIY drones with 35cm wires 2836/9. Each engine has a thrust of 1300g approximately.

I'm using Ardumega from DIY Drones as the main controller with magnetometer + sonar. So far it has proven to be the best thing I have ever bought for this hobby. i enjoyed it so much i bought it as a kit and soldered everything together

I designed and laser cut the case from a 3mm black plexiglass to hold both the Ardumega and the receiver.

As for the motor controllers, I bought 8 25AMP Turnigy ESC's from HobbyKing.
I am currently using 11*4.7 props but will go with the 12 later on down the road. All well balanced

Ardumega will be responsible for the compensation on the roll/pitch axis at the moment. Later on, I will upgrade it to control all three axis.

This is my camera gimbal. It currently has 2 active axis , but later on I will upgrade it to 3 axis.Currently I'm working on finalizing roll and pitch, but I am still waiting for the right parts to arrive.

Wires were also taken into consideration during the design phase :) very neat :)

Wires from the ESC's to main power source are all well soldered and added heat shrink.

Here's the OCTO almost ready for a test flight :)

Here is the OCTO after couple of flights. I modified the design of the Gimbal and I integrated a new landing gear design on it

I promise the next design will be more elegant. With the cash at hand and the time this is the best I was able to come up with.

Here is a sample picture from the video I'm taking from the OCTO

Here is the first video from the OCTO, of course it looks better now but this is just a sample.

For those who love beer, here's one for you :) Note: I got rid of that beard

Feel free to ask me anything, your feedback is important to me. It better be a good one though!

Hey man! i am from lebanon, in lebanon, and i got to this post from instructables (my fav website) and i am very very interested in what you are working on. Unfortionatly, i am still in school, and i would like to ask you some things! like were did u get that laser cutter from? were did u get all the gear and tech needed? the motors? everything! i also want to ask you if u have actually studied any of this in like university or were u get ur experience from!! please reply back! u r a true inspiration! keep it up! 7bb tc

I am very happy to see how much you are interested in what we do! Not really, university or any institution does not teach you all of this. And if it does, it does not teach you how to be creative in the application! this is why my only advice for you is to start making and building, it is the only way You can get the know-how and experience. If you wanna chat, you can find me on facebook.